Anxiety 101: A Guide for College Students

Summary

The Anxiety Sisters are back with the second book in their series, which addresses everything you wanted to know about anxiety but were too anxious to ask. Based on current research and interviews with more than 100 [pre]college anxiety sufferers, the focus of this particular book is pre-adult anxiety, which arises between the ages of 17 and 22--a time when most older teenagers are preparing for college and, possibly, to leave home. The paradox of having physically mature bodies topped by not yet fully-developed brains is further complicated by all of the social and cultural pressures felt by this age group. As such, understanding and managing pre-adult anxiety can be particularly tricky. Written with their signature humor and wacky illustrations, Anxiety 101 is both thorough and accessible for [pre]college students and any adults in their lives.

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Anxiety 101 - Abbe Greenberg

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Chapter 1

Is This Anxiety?

Yes. Probably. How do we know? Been there, done that. Also we’ve interviewed a lot of other people who’ve been there, done that. Many of us are still there, still doing that. Maybe you are too. So what does anxiety feel like? It’s different for everyone, but here are some of the most common symptoms:

Really, any unpleasantness your body can produce is fair game for anxiety.

In high school, I used to go the nurse every single day with random stomach aches. Now, if it’s bad, I’ll just skip class and hang in my room. It’s definitely not food-related. I guess it’s stress. (Katie, 18)

So how can you tell the difference between being physically sick and having anxiety? It’s tricky, but here are some clues: (1) symptoms are ongoing (you feel like you have the stomach flu off and on for an entire semester) (2) you’ve been to the doctor (3) you find yourself isolating or disconnecting from friends (4) you react more emotionally than is appropriate for a given situation (5) you’ve lost your appetite or you find yourself eating way more than usual (6) you can’t fall asleep or you want to sleep all the time (7) you are crying more often and for no apparent reason (8) you are feeling overwhelmed and uneasy for no apparent reason (9) you just don’t feel like yourself.

My first semester of college, I was crying all the time. It would come out of nowhere—there was no warning. It wasn’t like something had happened. And I couldn’t keep it to myself because the crying was so intense—my roommates were really worried. (Alex, 19)

One more comment about symptoms: like bed bugs, they can relocate and multiply. In other words, your symptoms can change. Which, if you get explosive diarrhea, is a good thing.